


Static Cling

by CosmicAvian



Category: Paranatural (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, but i wanted to dip my toes in, god im not sure what to tag this as, it sorta is anyways, max is not good at comforting people, not a big maxaac fan actually, see what its like shipping these two, this was supposed to be short...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 11:38:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13387026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmicAvian/pseuds/CosmicAvian
Summary: Isaac has some personal worries that he finds himself letting out to the one person he think's is sort of cute.





	Static Cling

Isaac scratched at his upper arms, feeling subconscious. Nobody could see it, he was wearing long sleeves anyways, but he still felt nervous. He silently cursed King C before gnawing on the wrapper of his Semi-Vegan Breakfast Chew (Now With Glitter!) anxiously, waiting for the young girl at the cash register to give him his change.

As of recent, he had begun to develop more features respective of the spirit possessing him. It was a slow-ish process since King C was so big, but it had been far easier to deal with the spikey hair than this. The sharp teeth had come next, of course, but he just had the excuse of using tooth caps to make them look like that. They had begun to grow in some months ago but they were really starting to show. 

This development, however, couldn’t have an excuse, like hair gel or tooth caps, cover it. Not at all. They had appeared just this morning and they were… itchy. He already picked at his skin a lot, even when Doorman or his peers told him to stop. He couldn’t help it. These, however, just made it worse.

He was jolted out of his thoughts by a “Hey! You spacing?” from the cashier girl, Zoey was her name he was pretty sure, and she slid him his change. He stuffed it in his pockets, preparing to leave when he heard familiar footsteps coming down the stairs behind Zoey.

“Isaac, hey!” Max waved to him and he waved back stiffly, scratching at his arms some more. Max hopped over the counter despite his sisters protests that he was going to knock the cash register off the table. “Mind if I- uh- walk to school with you?”

Isaac just shrugged. “It’s fine.” He said flatly, already headed for the door. Max followed in suit, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

They walked in awkward silence for a while, Isaac stewing in his thoughts. Was Max still mad at him? That was months ago, he told himself. But he could still be mad at him, he decided. He shuffled stiffly in silence as he argued with himself about whether or not Max was still angry with him when said boy piped up.

“Isaac? Are you alright? You’ve been far quieter than you usually are.” Isaac turned and peered into the eyes beneath that dark blue cap his friend seemed to wear everyday. He had a mildly concerned look on his face and it was sort of _cute_ \- no Isaac stop that. He yelled at himself internally for a moment before Max spoke again.

“Seriously man, you look upset. You wanna tell me what’s up?”

Isaac stiffened up, feeling embarrassed. “Uh- n-no I’m fine, really!”

Max squinted crossly. “Uh- _huh_.” He responded, clearly unconvinced. “Spill that can of worms on me, Isaac. What’s wrong?”

Isaac frowned in response. “It’s nothing, and if it was something, it’d be none of your business.” Isaac clawed at his itchy arms and refused to make eye contact. “C’mon, we’re going to be late if we don’t hurry up here.”

As they continue along, Max has decided he now needs to be annoying. He makes quips and snarks about the spirits around them, about Isaac (in a friendly manner) and about just about everything else.

Eventually, this just devolves into Max repeating the ginger’s name over and over again. Isaac grits his teeth and he can feel the static in the air around him condensing. He stops short suddenly and Max runs into him with a solid “uff!”

Isaac turns around slowly, scowling at Max. He’s having trouble keeping his composure at this point. Max was sitting on the ground, looking up at him with a smug grin on his face, hair fuzzed up with static and hat in one hand.

“Now will you tell me?”

Isaac can feel himself bristling. Why was Max so persistent? Before he could think, he started pouring his heart out.

“Fine! I’ve been constantly worried that you’re all still mad at me after the accident with Mr. Spender and how I treated you! I’ve been feeling really off today and now it’s showing and now I’m telling the boy I think is-!”

Isaac stops himself, just in time too. Max stares at him thoroughly. “You think is….?”  
“A-A jerk.” Isaac can feel his body sparking with energy once again, his face warming up in embarassment.

Max squints and they both remain in awkward silence for a few moments before he shrugged to himself. The boy picked himself up off the ground, dusting himself off and trying to smooth down his staticky hair to no success. Isaac thought he saw a glimmer of disappointment in his eyes, but maybe he was seeing things.

“Alright man, no. We’re not mad at you, I am definitely not mad at you. At least one of those things was an accident and the other was your lack of friendship experience.”  
Isaac’s heart skipped a beat, or maybe several. It felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders and he smiled awkwardly at Max. “S-Sorry.”

Max nodded. “No ‘s fine man, really. That was months ago, everything’s alright now.”  
“Uh, yeah, haha. Everything’s fine. Right.” He could feel his cheeks flushing again. Of course, it was fine. Max was right, that was ages ago. He mentally yelled at himself.

Max gave him a look. “There’s still some worms in that can Isaac. Gimme the worms.”

“W-what?”

“That’s not all that’s wrong. Or, uh, wronger than usual? You have a lot of problems Isaac you need a therapist. Who isn’t a door, I mean. Wait do therapist’s exist in Mayview or are they like-”

Isaac sighed heavily and interrupted his friend before he could initiate a ramble. “I _know_ Max, I get it. This is-uh-sort of hard to explain, though.”

“On a scale of 1 to having to explain that you have a ghost roommate-slash-son-slash-little-brother to your non-spectral family how hard is it to explain.”

“Max that’s very specific-”

“You’re derailing the topic.”

“This time, maybe.” Isaac snarked back, feeling a bit more comfortable now that the conversation was less tense. 

Max rolls his eyes. “Ok, ok you were saying…?”

“Look, wait till we get the Manse. I might need to do a visible demonstration here.”  
“I- ok? That’s giving me a bad feeling.”

Isaac shrugged, already striding away. “Come on, dude.”

It took maybe about a ten minute walk to reach the Manse, which was technically shorter than the first time they walked together. Of course, they weren’t being harassed by two of the local bullies and a sphinx incessantly either.

Isaac tossed his backpack off once they reached the entrance, then began yanking off his shirt.

“W-woah, hey man! What’re you doing!?”

“I told you I needed to give you a visual demonstration!”

Max steps back a few feet as he watches Isaac struggle out of his long sleeve shirt. It takes him a few moments, then Isaac tosses it on the ground. “There! Do you see them?”

“...no, actually.”

“You don’t see them? You don’t see the tattoo-y marking things?” Isaac starts to feel frustrated again. He puts his face in his hand. “Alright-uh- maybe if I try…?”

He concentrates hard, closing his eyes and trying to encourage it. He feels the air around him get static-y and warm yet again.

“Woah- dude!”

Opening his eyes, his arms, shoulders and presumably his back and some of his chest are glowing a pleasant blue light.

“There, do you see it _now?_ ”

“That’s- uh- that’s a new development?”

“Yes.”

“And- and your spirit- this is your spirit’s fault.”

“Yes.”

“Give me a sec man I’m processing this.”

Isaac watches Max put his head in his hand, rubbing the bridge of his nose. In the pale light, he swears Max’s cheeks look a little rosy. _Cute-_ Isaac no we’ve been over this. Isaac gently scolds himself this time, he’s in a bit of a better mood, really.

Max shakes his head as if trying to clear it. “Ok- ok- that’s sort of cool. Like really sort of cool.”

Isaac rubs the back of his head. “I mean- sort of yeah. Thanks I guess. This is a huge problem though. I mean, how am I supposed to hide this?” He just sort of gestures to his entire self.

Max crosses his arms. “All things considered this is far from the weirdest thing I’ve seen in Mayview, and it’s only been a couple months. I mean- have you seen the kids at our school?” He gestures in an exaggerated manner. “You’ll be fine, dude.”

Isaac stands there in silence for a moment. “Yeah, maybe you’re right.”

They stand in a peaceful silence for a few moments, gently washed in the faint blue light from Isaac’s new, bodily tattoos. Then Max starts to laugh.

“Wh- what’s so funny?” Isaac puffs up defensively. 

Max is actually laughing pretty hard, and it’s pretty cute- oh come on. Isaac just silently gives up on himself. Why does he keep thinking that?

Max eventually regains his composure. “Sorry- sorry. It’s just- your- your-” Max points at Isaac’s chest and it takes him a moment to realize what Max is referring to. “They’re glowing Isaac- they’re- your- they’re _glowing!_ ” He starts laughing again.

Isaac sighs, leaning down to grab his shirt. “Okay _jerk._ Let’s get going before the Activity Club starts wondering where we are.”

**Author's Note:**

> hyello i needed some writing practice so i tried to practice writing isaac and ended up failing at it being short. max/isaac heavily implied for some folks in a discord server.


End file.
